Broadcaster Alan Jones has revealed that he was a “breath away” from developing diabetes and that to prevent the disease he had dropped a considerable amount of weight.
The shock jock took to his radio program on 2GB to announce that he is one of an increasing number of Australians who are pre-diabetic and at risk of developing the debilitating disease.
“The doctor said ‘right, sit down I’ll tell you what the issue is, you have become insulin resistant and you are a breath away from becoming a diabetic and this is serious stuff’,” Jones says.
“I said ‘how many other people are in this boat?’ ‘A lot’, he said this is an epidemic.”
On September 14 it was revealed that more than half of the Australian adult population (63 per cent) are considered overweight or obese, which can lead to conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, back pain and diabetes.
Already around 1.7 million Australians have diabetes and it’s estimated at least 500,000 are living with the disease but have not been diagnosed.
Jones says he immediately changed his eating habits to reduce his risk of diabetes.
“Suddenly we had to try and get the sugar our of the system and I had to change. I’m not on a diet, I eat a lot of stuff and I’m never hungry,” he says.
Jones says he was compelled to reveal his battle because rumours had started to surface that he was unwell.
“… People have been commenting ‘is he sick, has he got cancer, what’s wrong with him?’ That’s the story, and it’s related to diabetes,” Jones says.
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